We deal with a specific type of client in the finance industry and have over 400 clients, far too often we find ourselves refusing to update sites due to stolen and poorly re-written content.

@satseo ; - Sometimes you will need to write about something which is almost unavoidably duplicated, technical information for example but even in this case you can make it unique. You should avoid looking at other sites when creating your content otherwise you will knowingly or unknowingly copy portions of the text and as said above, regardless of Google's view on the subject, it is wrong full stop. If the information is already present on another website there is absolutely no need for it to be repeated elsewhere, if you really need to use it then link to the site and include a short snippet, they may even do the same in return if you have content of interest.

We deal with a specific type of client in the finance industry and have over 400 clients, far too often we find ourselves refusing to update sites due to stolen and poorly re-written content.

@satseo ; - Sometimes you will need to write about something which is almost unavoidably duplicated, technical information for example but even in this case you can make it unique. You should avoid looking at other sites when creating your content otherwise you will knowingly or unknowingly copy portions of the text and as said above, regardless of Google's view on the subject, it is wrong full stop. If the information is already present on another website there is absolutely no need for it to be repeated elsewhere, if you really need to use it then link to the site and include a short snippet, they may even do the same in return if you have content of interest.

How do you properly research a topic without looking at other sites? The trick is looking at enough of them (I suggest 3 to 5 minimum), taking notes if you need to, and then writing the unique content. Then, check the content through, not Google, but a plagiarism checker such as copyscape that will tell you how many times your content appears (if any ) on other sites and pinpoint the exact words in question.

Additionally, using even a short snippet without permission is plagiarism. If you really need to quote something or copy an idea, then get permission and give credit where it's due through citation.

I prefer to write my own content when I have time. I always dread it, but find that after the first one things flow pretty effortlessly and before I know it I've written 5 or 6 good articles. Other than that I outsource to folks who I know will produce good, unique stuff. Writing yourself forces you to become more familiar with whatever niche you're trying to gain ground in...the more you actually become a personal authority on your topics, the better your results will be in the long run. This doesn't happen with spinning or piecing together other people's stuff.

With the amount of content on the web, it's possible that original content could accidentally be duplicate. Having said that, if you're purposely going out there and rewording someone's content this is wrong. Google probably won't notice but the author may notice. Your best bet is to research topics and make your own content.

With the amount of content on the web, it's possible that original content could accidentally be duplicate. Having said that, if you're purposely going out there and rewording someone's content this is wrong. Google probably won't notice but the author may notice. Your best bet is to research topics and make your own content.

With the amount of content on the web, there is a 100% probability that much the information is duplicated. However, original content doesn't rely so much on what you say as it does how you say it.

An old trick my teachers taught me when I was in school was to research (and take lots of notes in the form of short phrases and lists) and read all about the topic... then leave it for a day or two before going to do the actual writing. This will help your brain forget how it was written and let you just remember the information.

If you are writing your article based on what others say, you are either quoting or plagiarizing (and if you're whole article is a "quote", that's just as bad). Like Shyflower said, it's how you say it. For example, there are hundreds of books written on C++ (a programming language). The information for C++ doesn't really change (especially the basics). However, hundreds of authors have been able to write books on that same little bit of information because they write it themselves, using just the information.

Plagiarizing content in the internet became a problem with the advent of adsense, which made it easy to monetize content. I have seen it all through the years.

I remember when the profitable thing to do was to scrub google searches and grab the top 10-40 results along with a paragraph of content from each while giving a link to the site. The culprits would slap adsense on the page and make money that way. Not many of those left, but I had a couple of hundred links to my website from places like that before.

Then I would find places where they would take content, change it a little and then publish it as if it was their own. This actually requires some work, and I find very little of that. Funny thing is I do not consider myself a particularly gifted writer, but having a finance related website makes me a target.

What is very prevalent is a lot of websites and forums that seem to have computer generated trash built around keywords and search terms. The good thing is that google and the other search engines seem to be very good at catching these and relegate them to the bottom of the pile.

Rephrasing articles is not OK. Of course, when you're trying to get as much knowledge about a topic, you're bound to read tens of articles. But from getting the knowledge and then 'sifting' it through your own cognitive process to just 'spinning' an article there's a lot of difference. I too read many articles on a topic and create another article based on that information. But I add details or remove them, I think about it in my own terms and the article is always different, since my way of seeing things is different than the authors'.

most people are ok with rewritting of content if you reference it with a backlink

How do you know if "most people are ok" with it if you don't first ask permission? As Miki said, backlink or not, if you don't have the permission of the author it's copyright infringement and more -- it isn't just a no-no, it's illegal.

I will suggest you to write your own content instead of coping some1 else. This will definitely increase your self confidence in writing content & it will also motivate you to write more. initially you may find it difficult so you may take help of experts but gradually even you will get accustomed of writing content of your own & you'll forget of modifying some one's else.

Spinning is creating a derivative form of an already published article. Unless you're creating different "spins" on your own work (which is, by the way, the proper use of "spin") it's still copyright infringement and just as unethical and illegal as copy/paste.